Monday, November 25, 2013

Essay Assignment: Evangelium Secundum Marcum

Latin III
Instructor:  James Ransom
November 25, 2013

Evangelium Secundum Marcum
Essay Assignment

·         The essay will be written in class during the announced final examination period.
·         The essay will be written in the bluebooks provided.
o   You may bring one page of notes and outline.  Other materials may not be consulted during the essay examination period.
o   Please write for the entire examination period.  Do not turn in your bluebooks early. 
o   When quoting from the Gospel of Mark, please draw your quotations from the Vulgate text.
§  You may (and are encouraged to) also consult relevant passages in the other Gospels; these may be quoted from the Douay-Rheims text.
·         Essay topics (This is an initial list.  Each class member is responsible for suggesting one or two additional essay topics upon return from Thanksgiving break.)

(1)   Compare and contrast the relationship between St. John the Baptist and Herod (Mark 6:14-29) with that of Christ and Pilate (15:1-15)

(2)   Compare and contrast Christ’s confrontation with the Pharisees (Mk. 7:1-23) with that of Christ and the Saducees (Mk. 12:18-27)

(3)   Christ tells his Apostles at Mark 4:11-12:

Vobis datum est nosse mysterium regni Dei: illis autem, qui foris sunt, in parabolis omnia fiunt:  ut videntes videant, et non videant: et audientes audiant, et non intelligant: nequando convertantur, et dimittantur eis peccata.” 

Discuss and explain Christ’s meaning in this passage.

(4)    At the climax of the healing of the boy with a “spiritum mutum” 9:14-29, the boy’s father cries out, “Credo, Domine: adiuva incredulitatem meam” (9:24).  Discuss the whole pericope in light of this seemingly paradoxical utterance. 


(5)    At Mark 4:25, Christ says, “Qui enim habet, dabitur illi: et qui non habet, etiam quod habet auferetur ab eo.  Yet at 10:25, Jesus astonishes his disciples by progclaiming that Facilius est, camelum per foramen acus transire, quam divitem intrare in regnum Dei.  Discuss and reconcile these two precepts.  

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